Joe’s Pub is now open again, fDeluxe (formerly Prince’s The Family) playing there

“Melvoin and Peterson have put the Family back together but with a new moniker, fDeluxe. That’s because of one other thing they have in common — strained relationships with Prince, who founded the Family in 1985 and still owns the rights to the name. Melvoin was his fiancée and co-writer for a few years but eventually broke off their engagement. Peterson was a Prince protégé, plucked right from high school as a replacement in the Time for the filming of “Purple Rain” and groomed for the Family but he left for a solo career that included two national releases that didn’t exactly take off.

So when it came time to ask permission to resurrect the Family, Peterson had a long visit at Paisley Park. “It was a good conversation,” he said, referring to it as more man-to-man than mentor-to-pupil. But Prince said “no” –the same message he delivered to Melvoin when she reached out to him.

The new fDeluxe album, “Gaslight” — which also features original Family members Eric Leeds (who has worked with Prince, Estaire Godinez, Sheila E and others) on saxophone and Jellybean Johnson (who still tours with Morris Day & the Time) on drums and guitar — is both a continuation of the Family and a journey in new directions. In other words, it’s got plenty of sanctified funk, dreamy pop, soulful duets and jazzy saxophone.

“I would say we paid 20 percent [attention] to the history of the Family record and the other 80 percent was really Paul and myself putting ourselves into a fully realized band,” Melvoin said.

For the concerts (including gigs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York), fDeluxe will feature material from both “Gaslight” and “The Family,” including the R&B hit “Screams of Passion” and “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which Prince wrote for Melvoin, long before he gave it to Sinéad O’Connor.” [Star Tribune]

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